System and method of notifying user near point of sale location of available rewards at the point of sale location

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for a point of sale reward system are provided. The system notifies users proximate to a point of sale location of rewards available for redemption specific to that user at that specific point of sale location.

CROSS-REFERENCE OF RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/663,208, filed Jul. 28, 2017, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/069,785, filed Mar. 23, 2011, nowU.S. Pat. No. 9,754,267, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/561,210, filed Nov. 17, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No.7,934,639, the contents of all of which are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and method for notifying auser near a point of sale location of available rewards at the point ofsale location.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Users of financial cards that provide rewards for use must currentlyinteract with the issuing financial card company to select specificrewards that are then shipped to the user. This usually requires thatthe user browse pictures of reward items through a catalog or on a webpage. Thus, the user may not have the ability to physically interactwith or inspect the items prior to selection. Also, the user is limitedto the items that the financial card company wishes to offer as areward, and is limited to the merchants that the financial card companychooses to associate with. Finally, the process of browsing for rewarditems and then selecting one or more is time consuming and a potentiallylengthy process. these current processes may lead the user to adissatisfying experience with the reward financial card.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, various embodiments of the present invention directed to asystem and method for creating a point of sale reward system areprovided. A system may receive information identifying a user inproximity to a point of sale location and then provide the usernotification of available rewards for that particular user at the pointof sale location based on a rewards account associated with thatparticular user. The information may be sent to the system by a systemthat receives information at a location proximate to a point of salelocation that is used to identity a user associated with a rewardsaccount and transmits the information to a rewards system, whereby therewards system may use the information to identify reward informationavailable to the user at the point of sale location and send anotification to the user related to the rewards for that user at a pointof sale location to which the user is proximate. The user may provideidentification at the point of sale to facilitate notification ofparticular rewards, and the rewards may be provided to the user at thepoint of sale. The user may be notified in many potential ways. Forexample, and without limitation, the user may be notified of rewards viaa text message to the user's cellular telephone, a voice mail message,an e-mail, or a web page. The method of notification may optionally beassociated with the user's reward account. The identification that theuser may provide at the point of sale may include biometric data or datafrom a financial card read with a card reader. Or, the useridentification may he a username and password combination that the usermay enter at the point of sale location. Further, the user may helocated using global positioning system information.

Other embodiments are also within the scope of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention, together with further objects and advantages, maybest be understood by reference to the following description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in the several Figures ofwhich like reference numerals identify like elements, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a system level block diagram illustrating components of asystem for a notification and point of sale reward system according toat least one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a system level block diagram illustrating the variouscomponents of a reward system according to at least one embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 3 is a system level block diagram illustrating various componentsof an identification unit according to at least one embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 4 is a system level block diagram illustrating various componentsof a payment transaction system according to at least one embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart detailing the actions of the user viewing rewardsand setting preferences in the reward system according to at least oneembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart detailing the actions of the user receivingreward information from an identification unit at a point of saleaccording to at least one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an identification unit in at a pointof sale location according to at least one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating actions of a user viewing rewardsand setting preferences in the reward system according to at least oneembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating actions of a user receiving rewardinformation from a reward system according to at least one embodiment ofthe invention; and

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating actions of a user receiving rewardsfrom a reward system according to at least one embodiment of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is intended to convey a thorough understandingof the embodiments described by providing a number of specificembodiments and details involving systems and methods for a point ofsale reward system. It should be appreciated, however, that the presentinvention is not limited to these specific embodiments and details,which are exemplary only. It is further understood that one possessingordinary skill in the art, in like of known systems and methods, wouldappreciate the use of the invention for its intended purposes andbenefits in any number of alternative embodiments, depending on specificdesign and other needs.

According to various embodiments of the present invention, a useraccumulates reward points (e.g., miles or points) which may beassociated with a user's account (e.g., a credit card account), and thepoint of sale reward system receives preference information from theuser. The entity associated with the user's account typically engagedwith agreements with several vendors to allow the user to exchange thepoints earned for merchandise or services. To enable the user to knowwhere to use the points, various embodiments herein described provide apoint of sale reward system that recognizes when the user is inproximity to a point of sale location (e.g., when the enter the store orarc near the store, when the user is within one mile of the store usingGPS technology, when the user swipes a card associated with the accountat a mall entrance where the store (POS location) is in the mall, whenthe user pays for an item at a POS location proximate to another POSlocation where an award may be found, etc.), and transmits rewardinformation that the user may redeem at that point of sale location(e.g., “For 500 points, you can get the new SuperVideo console atStoreA”). The user may redeem a reward if the user chooses, and theamount of the reward may be offset from the user's account.

A user 201 may apply for and receive an account associated with afinancial instrument (e.g., credit card, debit card, or other likeinstruments). The financial account may have associated with it a systemto provide rewards to the user. The financial card may be a credit card,but need not be. The financial card may contain a number printed on thefinancial card, and optionally also contains a magnetic area encodedwith the number or other information. Optionally, the financial cardcontains a radio frequency identification (“RFID”) device. In theapplication process or afterward, the user 201 provides identificationinformation to the financial card company. This identificationinformation may include, but is not limited to, the user's address, theuser's home telephone number, the user's cellular telephone number, theuser's e-mail address, a username and password combination, or biometricinformation about the user 201. The biometric information may include,for example, data concerning the user's hand, fingertips, voice, iris,retina, face, signature, gait, or any other suitably uniquecharacteristic of the user.

As shown in FIG. 1, a point of sale reward system is shown. The point ofsale reward system uses a network 105. A reward system 110, a paymenttransaction system 120, and an identification unit 150 may be connectedto or have access to the network 105. For example, the reward system110, payment transaction system 120, and identification unit 150 maycommunicate with each other using the network 105.

Reward points may be earned by the user 201 for a wide variety ofreasons, for example, by making purchases with the financial card. Forexample, as is known in the art, for every dollar spent using thefinancial instrument, the user may earn one “point” or some other numberof points. Reward points may also be awarded by the financial cardcompany for any reason, may be bought by the user 201 from the financialcard company, or may be awarded by a third party for any reason. Thereward points are associated with the user's account. The system mayalso enable users to purchase points, which users might use if a certainnumber of points is needed for an award.

As shown in FIG. 2, the user's identification information may beassociated with the user's account and stored in a reward system 110located remotely from the user 201. The reward points that are earned,awarded, or bought may be accumulated and may be associated with theuser's identification information in the reward system 110. The rewardsystem 110 may contain one or more of the following modules: anauthentication module 215, an account module 225, a reward module 220,and a notification module 230. The authentication module 215. theaccount module 225, the reward module 220, and the notification module230 may communicate with some or all of the modules. The modules of thereward system may he part of a single system, or the modules may bephysically or logically separated. The reward system 110 may be operablyconnected to the network 105 so that the reward system modules are ableto receive signals from the network and generate signals to the network.

The authentication module 215 may receive authentication information(e.g., as signals from the network 105), and may attempt to match theauthentication information to a record in the reward system 110. In anembodiment, the authentication information may be received as encryptedciphertext and decrypted according to protocols well known in the art.If the authentication information matches identification information ofuser 201 in the reward system 110, then the user 201 may he allowed toproceed. If the authentication information does not match identificationinformation of user 201 in the reward system 110, the user 201 may notbe not allowed to proceed. The account module 225 may contain aplurality of user's account information. For example, the account module225 may contain the user's unique number, the user's telephone number,the user's cellular telephone number, and the user's e-mail address. Inone exemplary embodiment, the account module 225 may store a pluralityof users and their related account information in a database. The user'saccount information may include, but is not limited to, the-amount ofreward points that the user 201 has accumulated.

The reward module 220 may contain information on one or more of thepossible rewards that are available from the financial card company. Forexample, the reward module 220 may include the name of a store (e.g.,Store A at 1550 Maple Avenue, Richmond, Va.) or retailer (Store A) inwhich the reward may be found, a description and picture of the reward,and the number of reward points required to obtain the reward. In oneexemplary embodiment, the reward module 220 may store a plurality ofitems and associated information in a database. The notification module230 may comprise hardware, software, or a combination of hardware andsoftware operable to notify a user notification system 240. For example,the notification module 230 may notify the user by sending a usernotification system 240 synthesized voice signals, or by sending a useran e-mail or a text message, or by any other notification style as knownin the art. The reward system 110 may contain a display module operableto display the information gathered from the reward system 110 in a formthe user 201 can perceive with the system 202. In one embodiment, thedisplay Module may he a web server to organize and display informationviewable on software installed on the system 202.

The user 201 may operate a user system 202 to interface with the rewardsystem 110. The system 202 may be in communication with the rewardsystem 110 via the network 105. In one embodiment, the system 202contains an interface to view information received from the rewardsystem 110 over the network 105. A system 202 may include, but is notlimited to: e.g., any computer device, or communications deviceincluding, e.g., a personal computer (PC), a workstation, a mobiledevice, a phone, a handheld PC, a personal digital assistant (PDA), athin system, a fat system, an network appliance, an Internet browser, apaging, an alert device, a television, an interactive television, areceiver, a tuner, a high definition (HD) television, an HD receiver, avideo-on-demand (VOD) system, a server, or other device.

Though not depicted in FIG. 2, those of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that a plurality of potential systems 202 may be used by theuser 201 to input and view reward information and reward preferences.For example, if the network 105 comprises the Internet, the system 202may interact with the reward system 110 to view information and inputpreferences via a web browser client installed on the user's computer,such as INTERNET EXPLORER, NAVIGATOR, or FIREFOX web browser programs,offered by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., Time Warner of NewYork, N.Y., and the Mozilla Foundation of Mountain View, Calif.,respectively. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate thatcomputer systems may include traditional desktop and laptop computersystems as well as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), mobile phones,BLACKBERRY devices, and other portable communication devices. Thesedevices all typically include some form of browser client that enables aperson to view content delivered across the Internet. Web browserprograms may include HTTP browsers, as well as Wireless ApplicationProtocol (WAP) browsers, or any other suitable browser based oncurrently known or previously un-standardized Internet protocols.

In an embodiment, the user 201 may use a telephone to communicate with acustomer service representative, and the customer service representativecreates or changes the user's information or preferences in the rewardsystem 110. The user 201 may also send information on preferencesthrough the mail or facsimile where a customer service representativereceives the letter or facsimile and creates or changes the user'sinformation or preferences in the reward system 110.

Turning now to FIG. 3, an example of an identification unit 150 isshown. The identification unit 150 may be placed at or near a point ofsale location and may be operable to identify a user 201 in proximity.One embodiment of an identification unit 150 may comprise one or more ofthe following: an input module 310, a printer module 320, and a displaymodule 330. The identification unit 150 may be operably connected to thenetwork 105, so that it may be in communication with the reward system110. In one embodiment, a card reader 300 may be in communication withthe identification unit 150. The card reader 300 may contain a magneticreading unit to read the magnetic area on the user's financial card. Itshould be appreciated by one skilled in the art that many otheridentification measures are possible.

For example, the identification unit 150 may read the user's financialcard by an optical mechanism or may use a RFID reader to read a RFIDdevice in the user's financial card. Or, the identification unit 150 maycontain a biometric reader to input a user's biometric information intothe identification unit 150, for example a fingerprint, palm, voice,iris, retina, face, signature, or gait reader, or any other kind ofreader that can identify a suitably unique characteristic of a givenuser 201. The identification unit 150 shown in FIG. 3 may also compriseone of more of the following: an authentication module 340, a displaymodule 330, and a printer module 320. The card reader 300,authentication module 340, display module 330, and printer module 320may all be interoperably connected. The card reader 300 may operate toreceive the unique identification information from the user's financialcard, and transmits the unique identification information to theidentification unit 150. The authentication module 340 may receivesignals from the card reader 300 and examines them to ensure they are ofthe proper type. If the signals received from the card reader 300 arenot of the proper type (e.g., the card was misread or an improper cardwas used with the card reader 300), the authentication module 340 maynot allow the user 201 to proceed using the identification unit 150. Thedisplay Module 330 may display information received from the user'sfinancial card or from the network 105. The printer module 320 maycreate a tangible copy of information from signals received from thenetwork 105 and the card reader 300.

While the identification unit 150 has been shown to be interactive, itshould be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that theidentification unit may operate with little or no interactivity. In someexamples, the identification unit 150 may not be visible to the user 201whatsoever. The identification unit 150 may be a device to identify oneor more users based on observable biometric data, for example a user'sgait, head, face, retina, iris, voice, or any other observablecharacteristic so that the user does not have to interact with theidentification unit. Further, the financial card or associated. device(e.g., the user system or user notification system) may have a globalpositioning system (“GPS”) transmitter, which could transmit GPSlocation information to the identification unit 150. The identificationunit 150 may also use GPS or other location-tracking techniquesassociated with a device associated with a user to determine proximity(e.g., UPS on the user's automobile, GPS and/or triangulation on atelecommunications device associated with the user, etc.). For example,GPS information from a handheld or automobile-installed navigationsystem may be transmitted to the reward system. The GPS information maybe used in this way by the reward system to locate an individual and tosend reward information to the user notification system 240.Identification unit 150 may also comprise another POS payment systemwhere the user pays for an item using a financial instrument associatedwith the user and/or account. For example, if the user pays forgroceries using a credit card at a POS device in a shopping center, thatinformation may be transmitted to the system to enable the system toidentify rewards at a POS location in another proximate POS location(e.g., the next-door drug store or discount retailer). Also, it shouldbe appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the rewardsystem 110 need not authenticate the user 201. The identification unit150 may operate to send information describing the user 201 to thereward system 110 such that if no user 201 is found matching theinformation transmitted from the identification unit 150, the rewardsystem 110 may not send reward information to the user 201.

Turning now to FIG. 4, one embodiment of a payment transaction system isshown. The payment transaction system 120 may be operable to tally theitems that the user 201 has bought and enable the user 201 to pay forthe purchased items. The payment transaction system 120 may he operablyconnected to the network 105, so that it may be in communication withthe reward system 110. In one embodiment, a card reader 410 may beoperably connected to the payment transaction system 120. The cardreader 410 may contain a magnetic reading unit to read the magnetic areaon the user's financial card, or alternatively, for example, may readthe user's financial card by optical means or may contain a RFD reader.One embodiment of the payment transaction system 120 also contains adisplay module 420, a printer module 430, and an input module 440. Thedisplay module 420, the printer module 430, and the input module 440 mayall be in communication with each other. The display module 420 maydisplay information received from the user's financial card, from thepayment transaction system 120, or from the network 105. The printermodule 430 may create a tangible copy of information of signals receivedfrom the network 105, the payment transaction system 120, or the cardreader 410. The input module 440 may identify items that the user 201wishes to purchase. For example, the input module 440 may include a barcode reader, so that an operator of the payment transaction system 120may read the bar codes of the particular items that the user 201 wishesto purchase.

A network 105 may include, but is not limited to: e.g., a wide areanetwork (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a global network such as theInternet, a telephone network such as a public switch telephone network,a wireless communication network, a cellular network, an intranet, orthe like, or any combination thereof. In exemplary embodiments of theinvention, the network may include one, or any number of the exemplarytypes of networks mentioned above operating as a stand-alone network orin cooperation with each other. Use of the term network herein is notintended to limit the network to a single network.

As shown in FIG. 5, the user 201 accesses the reward system 110 via thesystem 202. In action 5 a, the user 201 may request that the system 202send authentication information to the reward system 110. Authenticationinformation may include, but is not limited to, a username and passwordcombination, a username, biometric information, information contained ona smart card, or any other information unique to the user 201 thatallows the user to authenticate. In action 5 b, the reward system 110may search the account module 225 for the user 201 based on theauthentication information. If the authentication informationtransmitted from the system 202 matches the identification informationcontained in the account module 225, the authentication module 215 mayauthenticate the user 201, shown in action 5 c. If the authenticationinformation transmitted from the system 202 does not match theidentification information contained in the account module 225, theauthentication module 215 may produce an error that may be transmittedto the system 202 (action 5 h), and the user 201 may he prompted tocorrect the authentication information before continuing. Ifauthentication is not successful, the process may terminate. Aftercorrect authentication, the reward module 110 may send theauthentication information to the account module 225 (action 5 d), andthe account module 225 may send the account information to the rewardsystem 110 (action 5 e). The reward system 110 may send the accountinformation to the reward module 220 (action 5 f), and the reward module220 may send reward information to the reward system 110 (action 5 g).The user 201 is thus granted access to the reward module 220 of thereward system 110 and the reward module 220 may transmit rewardinformation to the system 202, shown in action 5 h. In one embodiment,the user 201 may browse through the information contained in the rewardmodule 220 of the reward system 110. The user 201 may select preferencesbased on the information transmitted from the reward module 220 of thereward system 110, and the preference information may be transmittedfrom the system 202 in action 5 i and into the user's accountinformation in the account module 225. The preferences may be, but arenot limited to, a classification of items (e.g., athletic items orclothing), a price range, a store, or a range or amount of rewardpoints. Optionally, the reward system 110 transmits the amount of rewardpoints that the user 201 has accumulated to the system 202, so that theuser 201 may set preferences using that information. When the user 201is finished updating the reward information, the user 201 may close thesession between the system 202 and the reward system. In an alternateembodiment, the action of selecting preferences is not required for thepresent invention, and the user 201 accumulates reward points withoutsetting preferences.

The user 201 may interact with a point of sale. In the exemplaryembodiment, the user 201 may he physically present at a point of salelocation, but one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that thisis not required. The user 201 may use the telephone or othercommunication device to communicate with the point of sale remotely, ormay interact with the point of sale systems via the system 202 or othercommunication system. Turning to FIG. 7, an exemplary diagram of a pointof sale location is shown. The point of sale location 160 may have anentry, and an identification unit 150 may be, but is not required to be,in proximity to the entry. The point of sale location 160 may have oneor more areas 710, where items are placed for user purchase. The pointof sale location 160 may also have areas 720 including paymenttransaction systems 120, for users to complete purchases.

Turning to FIG. 5, in the exemplary embodiment, the user 201 may place afinancial card in the card reader 300, and the card reader 300 may readthe information stored in the magnetic area of the financial card. Thecard reader 300 may communicate the information to the identificationunit 150 in action 6 a. In action 6 b, the identification unit 150 maycommunicate the information to the reward system 110 across the network105. The identification unit 150 may also transmit information to thereward system 110 containing a store identifier. In an embodiment, theidentification unit 150 may contain an authentication module 340, Whichmay operate on the information to determine if the information is valid,before transmitting the information to the reward system 110. If theinformation is not valid, the authentication module 340 may alert theuser 201 with text on a display, one or more lights associated with theidentification unit 150, or sound generated by a speaker associated withthe identification unit 150. While the purpose of the card reader 300 isto provide information to send information to the reward system 110, oneof ordinary skill in the art could imagine multiple alternatives to amagnetic card reader. For example, in exemplary alternate embodiments ofthe identification unit 150, the card reader 300 may contain an opticalreader that may operate to read the user's card optically, or the cardreader may be replaced with a biometric reader which may be operable toread a suitably unique feature of the user 201.

The reward system 110 may identify and/or authenticate the user 201 fromthe authentication information transmitted by the identification unit150 by comparing it to the identification information associated withthe user 201 in the account module 225. If the authenticationinformation transmitted from the identification unit 150 matches theidentification information contained in the account module 225, then theauthentication module 215 may authenticate the user 201 and allow theuser to proceed. If the authentication information transmitted from theidentification unit 150 does not match the identification informationcontained in the account module 225, then the authentication module 215may deny further access and may transmit a signal, shown in action 6 cto the identification unit 150, so that the identification unit 150 mayalert the user 201.

After the user 201 is identified, the reward system 110 may utilize thepoint of sale location identifier information (e.g., store, retailer,mall, etc.) and search the reward module 220 for rewards linked to thepoint of sale associated (e.g., within set preference ranges, within setdistances, etc.) with the point of sale location identifier information.The reward system 110 may then apply the user's preferences from theaccount module 225 to narrow the possible rewards. Reward informationand user information contained in account module 225 regardingnotification may then be communicated to the notification module 230 (ora summary or notification that such information is available to theuser). In action 6 d, the notification module 230 may transmit thereward information to the user notification system 240 in the mannerthat the user has specified in the account information of the accountmodule 225. The notification via the user notification system 240 mayoccur, for example, when the notification module 230 communicates withthe network 105 to send the user 201 an e-mail about the availablereward information, when the notification module 230 communicates with atelecommunication network to send the user 201 a voice recording or atext message about the available reward information, or any other methodof notifying a user 201 of available reward information. At this step,the user 201 may be notified of potential rewards available in theparticular point of sale.

In an embodiment of the identification unit 150, the user 201 may beable to interact with the reward system 110 and set preferences byinteracting with the identification unit 150. The identification unit150 of the embodiment would also have a display and an input deviceoperably connected to the identification unit, capable of sending anddisplaying information transmitted from the reward system 110, shown inaction 6 c. The identification unit 150 may also have a display module330 which displays information transmitted from the reward system 110,and also a printer module 320 which prints tangible copies of theinformation transmitted from the reward system 110. A tangible copy ofreward information may allow the user 201 to easily find the particularreward item.

After the user 201 has been apprised of the rewards available in theparticular point of sale, the user 201 may shop at the point of sale.and choose items to purchase. If the particular reward is to receive adiscount on a particular item or service, or to receive the particularitem or service for free, then the user 201 may choose that particularitem to bring to the checkout. If the particular reward is a generaldiscount, then the user 201 may choose one or more items to bring to thecheckout.

When the user 201 has finished choosing items or services to purchase,the user 201 may check out of the point of sale. The payment transactionsystem 120 may operate to total all of the items that the User 201wishes to purchase, and to allow the user 201 to purchase the items. Theinput module 440 of the payment transaction system 120 may read the oneor more items to be checked out. The user 201 or the attendant mayoperate the card reader 410 to read the magnetic area of the user'sfinancial card. The information contained on the user's financial cardand information from the items input into the payment transaction system120 may be transmitted by the payment transaction system 120 across thenetwork 105 to the reward system 110, shown in action 6 e in FIG. 6. Thereward system 110 may use the information contained on the user'sfinancial card to authenticate the user 201, and interacts with thereward module 220 to determine the rewards available to the user 201 atthe particular point of sale. If a reward is found, the informationregarding the reward may be transmitted from the reward system 110 tothe payment transaction system 120, as shown in action 6 f. The paymenttransaction system 120 may apply the reward to the user's purchase, maytransmit a signal for the successful application of the reward acrossthe network 105 to the reward system 110 (action 6 g), and may completethe sale of the one or more items. The reward system 110 may receive thesignal for successful application, and May reduce the user's availablereward points by the amount of the reward in the account module 225.

The methods of reward application include, but are not limited to,reducing the amount of sale by the amount of the reward at the paymenttransaction system 120 at the point of sale, causing the paymenttransaction system 120 to print a refund request, so that the user 201may fill in information and claim a reward, or noting the reward claimin the reward system 110, where it may be acted on by the financial cardcompany (i.e., to issue a refund of the amount of the reward, or toapply the reward as a credit against the user's financial card balance).

In an embodiment, where the user 201 interacts with the point of saleremotely over a network 105, or where the user 201 interacts with thepoint of sale remotely over a telephone, the process of checkout mayoccur similarly as above, except that the user 201 may not be inproximity to the payment transaction system 120. The payment transactionsystem 120 in this embodiment may operate similarly, but may be a modulein the point of sale's network instead of a physical system operable toscan items. Also, it would be appreciated by one skilled in the art thatthe card reader may not be present in such a payment transaction system;the user 201 may transmit information from a user's system to the pointof sale's system, which then may communicate the information to thereward system and receive information from the reward system as inactions 6 e, 6 f, and 6 g.

Turning to FIG. 8, a flowchart describing one embodiment of the methodof choosing user preferences is shown. In block 810, the user system 202may transmit authentication information to the reward system 110 110. Inblock 820, the reward system 110 may authenticate the user and may allowthe user to proceed, or may not authenticate the user 201 and may notallow the user to proceed. If the user 201 proceeds from block 820, thereward system 110 may transmit reward information to the user's system.In block 830, the user 201 then may choose rewards from the informationtransmitted from block 820 and may transmit that preference informationto the reward system 110. The reward system 110 may then associate thepreference information with the user's account.

Turning to FIG. 9, a flowchart describing one embodiment of the methodfor the user 201 receiving reward information is shown. In block 910,the identification unit 150 may receive information useful inidentifying the user (e.g., information input from the user to identifythe user, identify a card for the user, etc.). In block 920, theidentification unit 150 may transmit the identification information tothe reward system 110. In block 930, the reward system 110 may searchthe reward module 220 for reward information applicable, to the user andthe point of sale location. In block 940, the reward system 110 maytransmit the applicable reward information to the user notificationsystem 240. The user 201 then may receive the reward information via theuser notification system 240 shown in block 950.

Turning to FIG. 10, a flowchart describing one embodiment of the methodfor the user 201 receiving a reward is shown. In block 1010, the user201 may interact with the payment transaction system 120 and may inputinformation from the user's financial card. In block 1020, the paymenttransaction system 120 may transmit item information to the rewardsystem 110. In block 1030, the reward system 110 may search the rewardmodule 220 for reward information fitting the point of sale location,the user's preferences, and the item information. In block 1040, thereward system 110 may transmit reward information from the searchdetailed in block 1030 to the payment transaction system 120. In block1050, the payment transaction system may receive the reward informationand may apply it (e.g., by removing all or part of the cost of one ofthe items, or by creating a rebate). In block 1060, the paymenttransaction system 120 may transmit a successful reward application tothe reward system 110, and in block 1070, the reward system 110 mayreduce the user's reward points by the amount of the successful reward.

The present invention encourages spending at a point of sale location byoffering reward information about items in the point of sale location tothe user while the user is in proximity to the point of sale location.By providing incentives to get the user to visit the point of salelocation to redeem a reward, the point of sale location benefits whenthe user then makes additional purchases at the point of sale location.For example, if the user is informed that she can redeem 500 points fora new telephone at StoreA, StoreA benefits when the user visits StoreAand redeems points for the telephone and also purchases other itemsduring the visit. Thus, this system creates incentives for participationby point of sale locations as a way of attracting customers into thepoint of sale location.

The present invention also encourages loyalty to the financialinstitution employing the present invention, as the rewards may belinked to prior purchases and enables them to use the rewards they earn.This overcomes frustration for users in many current rewards programs ofpoints that are earned but never redeemed because of the complexity ofthe rewards programs. Finally, the present invention helps the user toidentify available rewards, to receive reward information, and to redeemrewards in a faster and more unobtrusive way.

The embodiments of the present inventions are not to he limited in scopeby the specific embodiments described herein. For example, the point ofsale may be located remotely from the user, accessible by telephone orover a network. Or, the reward system may be a collection of more thanone computer, each operating collectively as the reward system. Or, thepayment transaction system may operate without an operator, for exampleby self-checkout, or may have an automated. system that does not requireinteraction with an operator or a user. Thus, such modifications areintended to fall within the scope of the following appended claims.Further, although some of the embodiments of the present invention havebeen described herein in the context of a particular implementation in aparticular environment for a particular purpose, those of ordinary skillin the art should recognize that its usefulness is not limited theretoand that the embodiments of the present inventions can be beneficiallyimplemented in any number of environments for any number of purposes.Accordingly, the claims set forth below should be construed in view ofthe full breadth and spirit of the embodiments of the present inventionsas disclosed herein. While the foregoing description includes manydetails and specificities, it is to be understood that these have beenincluded for purposes of explanation only, and are not to be interpretedas limitations of the invention. Many modifications to the embodimentsdescribed above can be made without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, at a rewardsprocessor, a user identifier and a user location of a user having a userrewards account, the user location being received responsive to a usertransaction at a first point of sale (POS) system and based on first POSsystem identifier information; receiving authentication informationassociated with the user; comparing the user identifier to theauthentication information to authenticate the user; determining,responsive to authenticating the user, one or more redeemable rewardsassociated with the user rewards account; determining, by the rewardsprocessor and based on the user location, one or more merchants within apredetermined distance of the user location, wherein at least a firstredeemable reward of the one or more redeemable rewards is redeemable atthe one or more merchants; and transmitting, from a user notificationsystem integrated with the rewards processor via a network, anotification to a user device associated with the user, the notificationcomprising data indicative of at least the first redeemable reward andthe one or more merchants within the predetermined distance of the userlocation.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the authenticationinformation is received as encrypted ciphertext and decrypted accordingto one or more protocols.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the merchantcomprises a second POS system and at least one of the first POS systemand the second POS system comprises: an account reader; a display; andan input/output module connectively coupling the POS system to thenetwork.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the user locationfurther comprises: receiving, from the user device, current locationdata based on a GPS feature associated with the user device; anddetermining the user location based on the current location data.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the user device is a mobile computing device.6. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving one or more userpreferences associated with the user rewards account of the user,wherein determining the one or more redeemable rewards associated withthe user rewards account is based at least in part on the one or moreuser preferences.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or morepreferences comprises at least one of: a classification of one or moreitems, a price range, a store, and a range or amount of reward points.8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more redeemable rewardscomprises at least one of: a specific discount, a general discount, arefund, and a reward points redemption.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein determining the one or more redeemable rewards is based at leastin part on authenticated identification information.
 10. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising receiving, at the rewards processor,redemption data associated with the notification.
 11. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the notification comprises an SMS text message or ane-mail.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the user identifier comprisesbiometric information.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the useridentifier comprises financial card information.
 14. A rewards system,comprising: one or more processors; and memory in communication with theone or more processors and storing instructions that, when executed bythe one or more processors, are configured to cause the system to:receive a user identifier and a user location of a user having a userrewards account, the user location being received in response to a usertransaction at a first point of sale (POS) system and based on first POSsystem identifier information; receive authentication informationassociated with the user; compare the user identifier to theauthentication information to authenticate the user; determine,responsive to authenticating the user, one or more redeemable rewardsassociated with the user rewards account; determine, based on the userlocation, one or more merchants within a predetermined distance of theuser location, wherein at least a first redeemable reward of the one ormore redeemable rewards is redeemable at the one or more merchants; andtransmit a notification to a user device associated with the user, thenotification comprising data indicative of at least the first redeemablereward and the one or more merchants within the predetermined distanceof the user location.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein theauthentication information is received as encrypted ciphertext anddecrypted according to one or more protocols.
 16. The system of claim14, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or moreprocessors, are further configured to cause the system to receive one ormore user preferences associated with the user rewards account of theuser, and determining the one or more redeemable rewards associated withthe user rewards account is based at least in part on the one or moreuser preferences.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the one or morepreferences comprises at least one of: a classification of one or moreitems, a price range, a store, and a range or amount of reward points.18. The system of claim 14, wherein the user identifier comprisesbiometric information.
 19. The system of claim 14, wherein the useridentifier comprises financial card information.
 20. A rewards system,comprising: one or more processors; and memory in communication with theone or more processors and storing instructions that, when executed bythe one or more processors, are configured to cause the system to:receive a user identifier and a user location of a user having a userrewards account; receive authentication information as encryptedciphertext and decrypted according to one or more protocols, theauthentication information being associated with the user; authenticatethe user based on the user identifier and the authenticationinformation; determine, responsive to authenticating the user, one ormore rewards associated with the user rewards account; determine, basedon the user location, one or more merchants within a predetermineddistance of the user location, wherein at least a first reward of theone or more rewards is redeemable at the one or more merchants; andtransmit a notification to a user device associated with the user, thenotification comprising data indicative of at least the first reward andthe one or more merchants within the predetermined distance of the userlocation.
 21. A rewards system, comprising: one or more processors; andmemory in communication with the one or more processors and storinginstructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, areconfigured to cause the system to: receive a user identifier and a userlocation of a user having a user rewards account, the user locationbeing received in response to a user transaction at a first point ofsale (POS) system and based on first POS system identifier information;determine one or more redeemable rewards associated with the userrewards account; determine, based on the user location, one or moremerchants within a predetermined distance of the user location, whereinat least a first redeemable reward of the one or more redeemable rewardsis redeemable at the one or more merchants; and transmit a notificationto a user device associated with the user, the notification comprisingdata indicative of at least the first redeemable reward and the one ormore merchants within the predetermined distance of the user location.